


Following the Maps (That Lead to You)

by xo_thefirst



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-16
Updated: 2016-02-16
Packaged: 2018-05-21 00:54:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6032284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xo_thefirst/pseuds/xo_thefirst
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jongdae never thought that doing things <i>Au Naturel</i> would lead him to dating one of the cutest Youtubers around.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Following the Maps (That Lead to You)

**Author's Note:**

> the videos mentioned are inspired by kurt schneider's videos on youtube.

YouTube has been Jongdae’s favorite website ever since he was thirteen. He wasn’t aware of the beginning of a new age when the site opened in May of 2005, but he was there when his older brother showed him the birth of the new group, _Wong Fu Productions_. He was there when they created their very first video and uploaded it onto YouTube, starting small before amounting to where they are now. Jongdae likes to think of them as his role models, his inspirations, because everything they do and everything they have created thus far has had some type of meaning hidden within each video.

 _Wong Fu Productions_ is probably the reason why _Funky JD Incorporated_ exists today.

 

Jongdae laughs as he reads the comments of his recent video. He loves it when he receives feedback of any kind, from constructive criticisms, to downright bashing, but the ones that really warm his heart are the comments where his viewers seemingly overflow with feelings and can’t help but smash their keyboards in hopes that their emotions get through to him somehow. Those comments are truly genuine, in his opinion, and he likes the feeling that he can make someone’s day with a video he poured his heart and soul into making.

He smiles as he sees a comment asking him how he does all this in-between school and he figures this is also why he’s “ _so popular_ ” according to his best friend. He clicks to reply to the comment, quickly typing up his response before sending it, and he bursts into a fit of giggles when he immediately receives an answer back.

He also loves talking to his subscribers, his Twitter usually lighting up like fireworks after he posts a new video, and he’s always sleepy in class the next day because of it. He never minds it though. If his followers take time out of their day to send him a message, he should at least have enough time in his day to reply back.

 

To be honest, Jongdae doesn’t think he has as many followers as _Wong Fu Productions_. If anything, he has at least a fifth of the amount of subscribers _Wong Fu_ has. If he’s being optimistic, he has a third of the amount of subscribers they have. But he thinks it’s only because he also does covers of the more popular songs that make its way onto the university radios around campus.

He hums as he makes his way towards the university restaurant, already seeing Chanyeol inside playing billiards with the rest of their friends, and smiles at the happy expression he can see on his face. Jongdae normally makes a video once every two to four weeks, but he hasn’t been able to make time to create a new short while the whole campus was gearing up for examination week. He even had to spend the past month trying to learn and re-learn everything in his classes so he didn’t fail a single one. But now they’re over. Now, he can get back to planning his next video.

“Fail or pass?” Chanyeol hollers right when Jongdae steps foot inside the establishment. He’s grinning from ear-to-ear and Jongdae thinks the man feels amazing about all the tests he took today.

“Pass,” Jongdae answers with a similar bright smile. He laughs as he tosses his backpack into the booth where their other friends are sitting. “Pretty sure anyways,” he adds on.

Jongin is currently playing billiards with Chanyeol, both of them using the game as an excuse to brush past each other to get to the cue ball, and Jongdae can’t help but smile at their awkward flirting. He plops down next to Baekhyun in the booth.

“Any progress on them?”

Baekhyun laughs in astonishment. “Them? No way.”

Jongdae laughs along with him, stealing some of Chanyeol’s fries before reaching into his backpack to get his notebook. There are several ideas and songs already listed in there, but he feels like doing something different for a change since all of his friends seemed to have survived examination week decently.

One of the ideas listed is to do another cover where he sings and Jongin dances. It’s been a while since the first time they did this and he thinks his subscribers would love to see Jongin in one of his videos again. He quickly became popular because of his looks and his skills with dancing.

Another one of his ideas listed is to sing another duet with Baekhyun. Their voices mesh well together since Baekhyun’s voice is on a lower range while Jongdae is more on a higher range, but there have been too many recent covers coming out by other famous YouTubers like _Max Schneider_ and _Sam Tsui_. Besides, he doesn’t really want to strain his friend’s voice either. It’s been starting to sound a bit raspy recently despite him reassuring them he’s not getting sick.

Jongdae pouts as he looks over the rest of his ideas, none of them sounding appealing enough to actually do and make Chanyeol and Jongin edit, before he looks over to Baekhyun next, the latter’s attention clearly focused on the duo currently arguing over who won the last game. “Hey, Baek,” he says, waiting for the other to look back at him. “What should I do for my next video?”

“Hmm?”

“For my next video,” Jongdae repeats, sliding his notebook closer to Baekhyun until it’s next to his friend’s empty plate. “I want to do something special instead of the usual videos I do.”

“Then why don’t you just do a video of all of us hanging out?” Baekhyun easily suggests before gesturing towards their now laughing friends, Jongin slapping Chanyeol’s shoulder in what one would _think_ is a flirtatious manner. It’s not. Baekhyun smiles at him. “I think all your subscribers would like to see all of us just chill for a change.”

The idea definitely isn’t a bad one, Jongdae thinks, as they watch Chanyeol loop an arm around a now flustered Jongin. They laugh as Jongin immediately pushes their larger friend away, Chanyeol stumbling before he regains his balance and starts laughing too. He thinks his followers would love to see how they all act together. He smiles mischievously, lips pulling into a wide grin as he hums pleasantly. Then he laughs in embarrassment when Baekhyun shoves him to get his mind out of his dreams.

Maybe he can get his subscribers to help him get Jongin and Chanyeol together.

 

Getting everything ready for a new video always takes a lot of time and preparation. It takes time to edit and get all the best views and lighting right. But for this video, Jongdae doesn’t think it’ll take too much to prepare or film. He’s going for an ‘ _au naturel_ ’ look. He smiles brightly as he sets up his tripod out in the university courtyard, Chanyeol spreading his mother’s quilt on the grass so all four of them can sit on the ground comfortably.

 _Get ready for an amazing new video!_ Baekhyun types into Jongdae’s twitter. _Ready to see us all up close and personal?! ^o^_

Jongdae laughs as he sits back next to Jongin, who’s too busy plucking out the small flowers surrounding them, and checks his phone. His Twitter is blowing up again and he glares playfully at a beaming Baekhyun, pride written all over his face as he pulls Chanyeol close to him when he scoots too close to an innocent Jongin.

“So,” Baekhyun says, laughing when Chanyeol pouts at him like a puppy, “What are we going to talk about for our first _Au Naturel_ video?”

Jongdae shrugs as he stares at his friends for inspiration. Chanyeol’s guitar is sitting beside them, but he figures they can close out their video with a short song. Instead, he looks to Jongin next to him, still too preoccupied with the flowers and grass, before another idea hits him. A smile breaks out onto his face as he turns and leans over to turn on the camera, pressing record easily before sitting back.

“Hello, lovely viewers!” Jongdae greets, just as bright and warm as every other video he makes. He sends the camera a small wave. “This video was a bit different from my previous ones, but I hope all of you enjoyed it nonetheless. I thought we should have some fun and show you what we do in our spare time between exams and university life.” He looks around to see Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Jongin staring at him before they each give him a variety of smiles. “You’ve now officially met my best friends!” He turns back to the camera happily. “If you enjoyed this video, hit the Subscribe button below,” he points down to his left before pointing to his right, “If you want to see my last video, click this nifty box right here.” He laughs when he sees Chanyeol and Baekhyun trying to play with the imaginary box. “Well, that’s it for today! See you all in the next video!”

He reaches forward to turn off the camera, waiting a few seconds before turning it on again. His friends know he does his videos a bit backwards, preferring to record the ending before recording the actual video, and he likes how they don’t mind it at all. He sits back before Baekhyun starts speaking first.

“Hey, everyone!” Baekhyun greets happily, waving cutely to the camera. “This is _Funky JD’s_ first _Au Naturel_ video! You’re witnessing a momentous occasion!”

“Anyways,” Chanyeol interrupts, constantly looking to Jongin who now looks bashful knowing he has to speak at _some_ point, “We’re winging this whole video. We don’t know _what’s_ going to happen.”

Jongdae lets his friends talk, smiling to the camera every few seconds before he looks back over to Jongin who keeps picking at the flowers in his hands. He smiles at the nervous action, reaching forward to grab some of the flowers on the ground between them to twirl and lock together. A flower crown is quickly made and his smile brightens when Jongin looks up at him shocked, allowing him to gently place the crown on his head. Jongin practically preens underneath the attention, and Chanyeol starts whining.

“Hey!” Chanyeol shouts, reaching out to slap a hand down on Jongdae’s thigh. “This is your video! You should be talking too!”

“Your jealousy is showing, Yeol,” Baekhyun retorts, rolling his eyes as the tips of Jongin’s ears turn red and he looks to Jongdae for help.

Jongdae simply mimics Baekhyun, rolling his eyes before scooting over to be able to link his arm with Jongin’s. “Don’t you think Jongin looks like a flower prince? The flower crown just enhances his beauty more.”

“Jongdae,” Jongin whines in embarrassment, squirming a bit before eventually settling down against him again. There’s a moment of silence and they’re stunned. “Chanyeol?” Jongin questions curiously. All Chanyeol does is stare at him with wide eyes. “Yeol?”

Jongdae shakes his head fondly before he turns to face the camera, now noticing a small crowd standing behind his equipment and watching them amazed. “These are my wonderful friends,” he says sarcastically, “Aren’t you guys glad that I’m the sane one in this group?” He bursts into laughter when Baekhyun tackles him to the ground first, followed by Jongin and Chanyeol. “I’m kidding!” he screeches, trying to push his friends off of him. “I surrender! I’m not the sanest!”

“Damn right!” Baekhyun yells back, laughing when they all eventually start slapping at each other to get off of the dog pile. “You’re the weirdest!”

“I’m pretty sure you mean the funkiest,” Jongin comments, laughing when Chanyeol focuses his attacks on him.

Jongdae stops trying to put Baekhyun into a headlock when Chanyeol elbows him in the back, face contorting into pain briefly before they look over to see Chanyeol still pinning Jongin down onto his side to tickle him into oblivion. Jongdae and Baekhyun instantly separate, both of them shaking their heads before getting up on their knees to head towards the camera.

“If any of my viewers are watching this weird cuddle-fest,” Jongdae whispers, hand cupping his mouth as if to prevent anybody else from hearing him. Baekhyun simply nods his head in approval, lips in a firm line as he gives the camera his most serious look to date. “And you ‘ _ship_ ’ this odd couple behind us, help us out here and make them officially confess and date already. It’s getting too painful to watch.”

“Tell me about it,” Baekhyun mutters in annoyance. He suddenly yelps when he topples backwards and Jongdae looks over at him alarmed, only to find Chanyeol and Jongin targeting him now. Jongdae sighs affectionately before turning back to the camera.

“These are my best friends,” he announces again, easily slapping away the encroaching hands when he sees them appear in his peripheral vision, “Do I deserve them? I have no idea.” He slaps more hands away. “This is probably the weirdest video all of you have ever seen.” He gives the camera a lopsided smile before he screams and he accidentally knocks his tripod over, camera instantly turning off when it hits the ground. “I apologize for that, but we’re entertaining. Right? My camer–!”

 

Jongdae doesn’t expect the amount of comments he receives a few days after he finally posts the ten-minute long video, one of his longest videos to date. Granted, he does expect the usual amount of comments to show up, but having twice the amount is astounding. Did his viewers really like his _Au Naturel_ video that much? Does he need to create more of them? What did they even do besides attack each other and flirt, in Jongin and Chanyeol’s case?

He pouts in concentration as he reads through all the usual comments and sees all the normal emojis, skipping over a few until he scrolls past a comment that has a name he doesn’t recognize. He scrolls back up to re-read the comment and pouts even harder in confusion.

_look at yixing! that’s yixing right?!_

_yixing is so handsome <3_

_jongdae you know yixing???_

Jongdae doesn’t understand. He scrolls back up to the video when he sees others comment the time that this ‘ _Yixing_ ’ person shows up and he re-watches it, actually cringing at seeing Jongin and Chanyeol flirting on the screen in front of him. There are people walking in the back of their video, which is usual since they were in the university courtyard, but he doesn’t see who this ‘ _Yixing_ ’ person could be. He jumps when his cell phone buzzes next to him, vibrating against the library table as he stares at it momentarily puzzled. Baekhyun’s name pops up on the screen and he frowns, picking it up and answering immediately.

“ _Zhang Yixing freaking_ goes _to our school?!_ ”

Jongdae is floored. _Baekhyun_ knows who this Yixing is? “What?” he says for lack of a better word.

“ _Zhang Yixing!_ ” Baekhyun screeches, Jongdae flinching as he tries to lower the volume of his cell phone so everybody in the library doesn’t hear their conversation. “ _That handsome Chinese singer I told you about?! The one who does all the awesome covers of pop songs and ballads and everything!_ ”

It takes several long, agonizing seconds before the information and random excitement click in his brain. Jongdae’s eyes widen with realization. “ _Yixing_ is that guy with “ _the really cute dimple_ ” that you kept talking about months ago?” He suddenly frowns when he hears a chorus of “ _yes, yes, yes_.” “How did you not know he went to our university if you were in love with him then?”

“ _I don’t know!_ ” Baekhyun yells. Jongdae thinks his right eardrum might burst. “ _I completely forgot about him when he did a cover with Lu Han and I know Lu Han goes to Yonsei University!_ ”

“What the hell?” Jongdae breathes out, getting up from his table to go to a secluded area of the library, between the aisles of the Encyclopedia sections. “Is this what all my viewers sound like? It’s insane.”

Baekhyun sounds completely calm when he answers him, “ _More or less, yes_ ,” before he goes back to screeching, “ _I can’t believe Yixing goes to our university! It’s insane that there are_ two _famous YouTubers going to our school!_ ”

“Baekhyun,” Jongdae whines, wanting the screaming to stop, “Calm down. I don’t know what you want me to do about it.” He pouts as he traces the letter ‘J’ on one of the encyclopedias. “How did you find out anyways? You don’t watch any of my videos. You usually just listen to them.” He can hear Baekhyun take a deep breath to calm himself down and he finds it slightly amusing that a pre-med student can be broken down into a mess like this.

“ _I follow Yixing on Instagram_ ,” Baekhyun quietly explains, like he’s trying to control himself, “ _He recently posted a new picture of bunnies, like two hours ago, and when I scrolled through my feed, I saw comments on his picture saying something about you_.” He pauses before he’s talking faster and getting louder with each word. “ _And then I went to your YouTube page and checked out your video and then I saw him there walking behind all of us while we conspired to try and get Jongin and Chanyeol together– Jongdae, oh my God!_ ”

Jongdae laughs at his friend’s reactions, trying to stifle his giggles behind the dusty, old books. “Hey, Baek,” he quietly calls, “You okay there?”

“ _I can’t breathe!_ ” Baekhyun manages to breathe out. His voice sounds airy and raspy all at once. “ _Zhong da!_ ”

Jongdae laughs even harder when Baekhyun slips and calls him by his Chinese nickname given to him when they took Mandarin together the year before. He smiles when he sees some classmates stopping to stare at him curiously. They smile back. “What do you want me to do, Baek? Who do you even like more? Yixing or Lu Han?”

There’s complete silence on the other end and Jongdae wonders if they accidentally hung up on each other. It’s happened before.

“ _Lu Han plays soccer and dances_ ,” Baekhyun murmurs, like that’ll give him all the answers in the world.

Jongdae frowns when he doesn’t elaborate. “So?”

Baekhyun sighs, and it sounds wistful. “ _Imagine those thighs and that stamina. He’s gorgeous_.”

“And?”

“ _And he_ sings,” Baekhyun emphasizes, “ _His voice is beautiful and so deep and just imagine. He can get so deep–_ ”

“Okay!” Jongdae squeaks out, eyes widening before he stuffs his face in an empty spot of a shelf. “Alright, Baek,” he whispers, making sure nobody is staring at him before stuffing his face back in to hide it. “How do you propose I get in contact with him? I’ve never heard about or seen Yixing before you mentioned him months ago and today.” He hums in thought as he looks up at the dark wooden shelf above him. “What does he even look like?”

It takes less than five seconds for Baekhyun to give him an answer.

“ _Exam hell week is over. I’m going to neglect my studies for the next week to introduce you to the wonderful world of ZYIXING_.”

 

Jongdae is too busy alternating between planning his new sketch and trying to actually do well in his Cost Accounting class by completing the homework correctly, (apparently, he did well on the recent exam so he has to back it up somehow), when someone slams an insanely large science textbook down next to him. He swears he jumped halfway to his death because _why the hell are all science textbooks literal monsters?_

A laptop is placed gently in comparison on top of the horrifying book and when Jongdae looks up, Baekhyun looks like he walked out of the _Walking Dead_ franchise. He frowns in concern. “What happened?”

“Surprise exam,” is the only answer Jongdae needs to immediately pull his best friend into a hug. His head is right next to Baekhyun’s abdomen, and he’s surprised to find lean muscle there instead of the soft tummy he used to always rub with friendly affection.

“You’re amazing, Baek,” Jongdae simply says before he feels fingers card through his hair in appreciation.

“And this is why I love you most.”

Jongdae laughs at that, letting Baekhyun push him away before he’s being forced to stare at a screen already loaded with one of _ZYIXING_ ’s videos. He stares at it a moment longer before he rolls his eyes in realization. Of course, Baekhyun would choose a video with Lu Han featuring in it.

“Don’t roll your eyes at me!” Baekhyun complains immediately, taking the seat next to him and scooting closer so they can watch the video together. His eyes are bright and Jongdae has to admit Baekhyun’s crush on this Lu Han guy is pretty cute. “Come on. This is one of Yixing’s better covers. He’s the one wearing the tank top and moving around the most to get to the appropriate places for each part of the song.”

Jongdae hums his acknowledgment, already focused on the paused video because Yixing has an amazing amount of views and likes on this video as well.

The video is a collection of Maroon 5 songs, a medley, and Jongdae thinks it’s amazing. He’s mesmerized by how smoothly Yixing and Lu Han can move around the apartment complex and hallways to create an intricate yet enjoyable video. This would take hours, if not days, of practice and he has to give this man credit. He doesn’t want the video to end.

There’s silence between them once the video finishes and Jongdae can feel Baekhyun’s imploring gaze directed towards him. He admits with a smile, “They’re good.”

Baekhyun nods immediately. “And Yixing?”

Jongdae hums. “He can sing.”

There’s a challenge in Baekhyun’s eyes and Jongdae knows this isn’t going to end very well.

“Let me show you his other popular videos.”

 

Spending hours in the university café doing something other than planning videos and doing homework isn’t exactly how Jongdae would spend his Friday afternoon. Yet, here he is. He rubs both his eyes with the heels of his hands, leaning back in his chair to take a break. He’s been staring at the computer screen for far too long. He knows Baekhyun is doing the same because he’s making that yipping noise only he is capable of when he’s tired.

“How many videos does this guy have?” Jongdae groans out, leaning over to slump on top of the table.

“Enough to re-populate the earth with AIs.”

Jongdae doesn’t even question his best friend, knowing his brain was fried even before he decided to crash his study day. He heaves a tired sigh, watching as Baekhyun slowly closes out each tab of YouTube, before he’s sitting back up to go back to work. He’s just figured out how to make a product more cost-effective when he feels someone lean against his side again. He sighs. Again.

“Hey, Baek.”

“Hey, Zhong da.”

Jongdae smiles at his textbook. “How are you doing?”

“I’m tired,” Baekhyun laughs out, moving in to place his head in the crook of Jongdae’s neck and shoulder, “Can I nap here?”

Jongdae laughs softly in return, moving so his best friend can get comfortable. “Let me order another latte then.” He stares at the screen where it’s paused to Yixing playing the piano, eyes closed as he “ _becomes one with the song_ ” as Baekhyun so helpfully describes it, and he isn’t sure whether his best friend made him like this guy or dislike him. _There are so many videos_. He hums as he puts the video to the lowest possible sound setting and presses play, simply watching Yixing’s expressions as he plays the piano.

“Just so you know,” Baekhyun mumbles against his shoulder, “This whole thing is probably a bad decision on my part because, you know, we watched almost every video within the span of a few hours.” Jongdae doesn’t understand what he’s saying. “But it’s probably a good decision on your part.”

 _What_.

 

(Pictures and videos of bunnies give Zhang Yixing life. He loves how cute and fluffy they are and how they nibble at the foods presented to them, he wishes he owned a bunny farm full of different kinds of bunnies. Lu Han calls him the most adorable devil to grace the planet and he always takes it in stride because _how can someone not love bunnies?_

He smiles happily as he scrolls through his Instagram feed and sees another picture of an adorable bunny, and promptly giggles when he re-posts it even though he just re-posted a picture of a different bunny hours ago.

Yixing barely notices a comment on his post about YouTube when his phone suddenly spazzes and there are instant notifications about varying degrees of comments from his followers. His eyes widen in surprise as he drops his phone, letting it flash continuously on his kitchen table as he sits back and watches it do its thing.

Normally, comments flow in like this for the first few minutes after he posts something new to Instagram, but with the way it’s continuing on longer than usual, Yixing can’t help but stare at his cell phone in confusion. He pouts before getting his laptop from his bedroom and turning it on, immediately going to YouTube because half the comments mention YouTube. He doesn’t understand. He hasn’t posted a video in over a week. Why are they mentioning it now?

Yixing’s pout turns into a frown when he sees he has new comments on all of his recent videos, all of them mentioning some man named Jongdae and _Funky JD Incorporated_ , and he curiously clicks on a link somebody posts in his comments. He’s taken to a video recently posted within the week and he stares curiously as four people show up on the screen. The YouTube name sounds familiar but he can’t place where.

They’re talking about some _Au Naturel_ concept when Yixing recognizes one of the people in the video from his dance class. His eyes widen when one of the men mentions Jongin, now sitting there with a flower crown on his head, and jumps when he feels a hand on his shoulder. He whips his head up to see Lu Han standing there behind him, _like always_.

“You’ve finally come around to checking out his videos,” Lu Han mentions before he walks away and tosses his soccer bag onto the floor next to the front door. “Although, that wouldn’t be one of the first I’d watch, if I were being honest,” he calls out before he disappears to somewhere else in the small apartment. “You should watch one of the few sketches he directed that has Chanyeol, Baekhyun, and Gayoung in it.”

“What?” Yixing answers back out of habit, even though he always hears what Lu Han says. He pouts as his eyes go back to the video, just about to end when he sees a flash of himself disappear off screen. His eyes widen in shock before he rewinds it back and watches as he walks behind the quartet, trying to untangle his Apple earbuds that seem to be forever tangled. That’s all he’s doing the entire time he’s in view of the camera. He sighs. Of course that’s what he’d be doing if not his own videos.

“Hey, Lu?” he questions when he hears a door close. He hopes he didn’t just speak to nobody. “Lu?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m in this Jongdae guy’s video,” Yixing simply says, hearing footsteps coming closer to him. “I don’t know if I’m supposed to do something about it or not.”

“You two go to the same school?” Lu Han inquires, eyes wide as he goes to look over his shoulder. “I didn’t know that.”

“I didn’t know that either,” Yixing says, frowning in confusion. “Am I supposed to do something about it though? All my followers keep commenting and telling me to do stuff, but what?” He looks to Lu Han pleadingly, hoping for some kind of answer, but all Lu Han does is shrug in response before walking away to take a shower. 

“How about talking to him and maybe try to collaborate? He sings too, you know.”

Yixing watches his friend walk away, belatedly realizing the stench hanging in the air, before looking back to his laptop and staring at all the comments mentioning him. He pouts as he scrolls back up to the ten-minute long video and replays it again. Does Jongdae really sing?)

 

 _KYAAAHHH DO THEY REALLY KNOW EACH OTHER?!!! COLLAB!!_ is what greets Jongdae on a Tuesday morning right before his Business Accounting exam weeks after his first _Au Naturel_ video made its appearance. He has no idea what brought this random comment on, or the many random tweets accompanying it, but he really look further into it until after the exam. He’s surprised to know a little more than half of the concepts on that dreaded test.

“Are you getting a lot of new comments now?”

Jongdae glances over to see Jongin suddenly walking in stride with him. He hums as he waves in greeting and Jongin laughs back. “Yeah. On all of my recent videos.” They both take the same general biology lecture and laboratory for first-years. Jongdae just so happened to choose a required first-year science late.

“So,” Jongin starts slowly, giving him a confused look, “you didn’t make a new video?”

Jongdae frowns. “Do none of my own friends watch my videos?”

“Sorry, Dae.”

“Whatever,” Jongdae mumbles, knowing very well Chanyeol doesn’t watch his videos either, unless it has Jongin in them. _Of course_. He looks back down to his cell phone, going through his Twitter feed after reading as many of the new comments as he can. “Oh. There’s a link in this tweet.” Jongdae lets Jongin bump into his shoulder once before they get a good rhythm and they’re both staring at the iPhone while still walking to class. “It’s a new video,” Jongdae informs, waiting for the five-minute cover video to load.

But he knows this song, and it only lasts four.

It’s when they’re seated and waiting for class to start that Jongin pulls out his earbuds and plugs it into the phone, each sharing one as Jongdae finally presses play. A melodic tune plays in the background and they both unconsciously sway to the beat. It’s sounds really nice, if Jongdae must say, and Yixing’s voice fits the song perfectly.

When the song ends, it’s then Jongdae realizes why there’s an extra minute left in the video. It shows Yixing sitting on his bed facing the camera. That part of the room looks minimalistic but that only keeps Jongdae’s attention for five seconds before Yixing speaks.

“ _Hello, everyone! Thank you for taking the time to watch my cover of Boa’s ‘Who Are You.’ If you liked this video and want to watch others, click the little box right here_ ,” Yixing points to an area beside him before pointing down cutely, dimple showing as he grins, “ _If you want to be notified of upcoming covers, please subscribe!_ ” There’s a pause where Jongdae thinks the video is finished, but he notices there’s still a good forty seconds left. “ _Recently, I’ve been getting notifications about appearing in somebody else’s video unknowingly. I just want to say that all of you should like and subscribe to his videos because you like what he does. I don’t want my sudden appearance in one video to cause a surge of subscribers because that isn’t fair for him and his work. However, I have checked out some of his videos, and I think they’re great_.” There’s only a few seconds left. “ _If he checks out this video, I just want to say – Hi, Jongdae. My name is Yixing_.” The last image is of Yixing smiling and waving to the camera, and Jongin and Jongdae’s mouths drop in complete shock.

Jongdae doesn’t even stop Jongin from trying to replay the ending, too dumbstruck to do anything but hear once again, “ _Hi, Jongdae. My name is Yixing_.” His heart is suddenly beating way too fast to be considered normal and the words keep ringing in his ear because Jongin keeps replaying the ending and _has Yixing always had dimples on both of his cheeks?_

Jongin is giving him a look, one where he looks like he knows too much, and Jongdae feels his body heat up from the ends of his hair to the tips of his toes. “What?” he squeaks out, flinching when Jongin reaches up to gently tug his earbud out of his ear.

“You’re red, Jongdae,” is all Jongin says before a soft smile takes over his lips, habitually reaching out to pet his head. It’s a weird-Jongin-habit he had taken up with only his close friends. His voice is unsurprisingly soft to match the soft smile on his face. “Have you ever met him in real life?”

Jongdae shakes his head.

“Would you want to?”

Jongdae averts his eyes from Jongin, opting to look back at his cell phone, video paused right before the ending. Class is starting, but with a class as big as theirs, the professor doesn’t really care how many of his students are actually paying attention to him or not, as long as they get the necessary notes for the upcoming exam.

“You know,” Jongin whispers as he’s taking out a notebook for all his notes, “I heard Yixing is trilingual.”

That puts a new spin on things.

Jongdae hastily forgoes his biology notebook in favor of his _Funky JD Incorporated_ notebook instead. He gives Jongin a bright smile.

“How would you like to do a video with me tomorrow?”

 

(Yixing stares blankly at his computer screen, meanwhile Lu Han’s trying to smack the thing to load faster, and his jaw falls when he sees Jongdae grinning cutely with Jongin waving behind him wearing another flower crown. Did the university really have this many flowers? Yixing doesn’t know nor does he give it a second thought when Jongdae opens his mouth and _sings_.

“The song is called ‘Into Your World,’” Lu Han informs quietly, smiling lightly as he sings along softly, “There’s an English and Chinese version as well,” he adds as an afterthought.

Yixing wants to know how he knows but he’s too mesmerized by how Jongdae effortlessly hits all the right notes, the sounds making a pleasant tingle run throughout his body. He’s never seen someone sing like this before. Not even Lu Han can hit the notes Jongdae is reaching way too easily.

“ _Hello, everybody_ ,” Jongdae greets with his signature cat-like grin, Jongin sitting behind him smiling vibrantly and sweating the slightest bit before he’s looking away again, “ _In short, this is a response to a video whose owner gave me a shout-out. It’s basically the reason why this video isn’t part of that mini-series I’ve been directing that everyone’s been waiting for_.” He laughs when Jongin pokes him and _oh_. His giggle is cute too. “ _Hi Yixing, my name is Jongdae!_ ”

Yixing immediately pauses the video when Lu Han smacks his arm. “Ow!”

“You two are flirting so hard!” Lu Han exclaims excitedly before he smacks Yixing again and then presses play. Yixing pouts at the abuse, rubbing his arm to soothe the sting, before he looks back to the video again.

“ _Thank you for the shout-out and getting me new subscribers!_ ” Another giggle. Oh God. “ _Hopefully you’ll get more subscribers too because your videos are great. Lu Han is a great singer too, if you’re watching this!_ ”

“I approve.” Yixing glares at Lu Han, who’s wearing a stupid bright grin on his face.

“ _Anyways_ ,” Jongdae continues, big smile becoming softer, and oh. _Oh_. “ _Thank you_.”

The video ends with Jongdae singing a snippet of the song in Chinese before he messes up and tells Jongin to turn off the video instead. Yixing goes back to staring at the screen blankly, Jongdae’s delicate voice resonating within his head and all those powerful notes pulling at his heartstrings. He feels a pat on his shoulder and he looks up to see Lu Han staring at him curiously.

“He’s cute,” Yixing blurts out, eyes wide and cheeks red. Lu Han laughs at him, continuing to pat his shoulder as if to go on. “Is he always that cute?”

Lu Han shrugs, pulling away. “I don’t know. I don’t go to your school, remember?”

Yixing pouts at the reminder before replaying the video at least two more times.)

 

“ _To my beautiful subscribers, I apologize this isn’t a new cover or collaboration with Lu Han. It is not a new composition of mine either. Instead, this video is a short one because Lu Han here says I have no tact–_ ”

“ _You don’t!_ ” Lu Han yells from behind the camera with a laugh. Yixing easily ignores him and continues on.

“– _but, Jongdae, do we really go to the same university? How come I haven’t actually seen you yet? Also, my earbuds are perpetually tangled; I don’t know why I keep trying to untangle them. I’m sorry that’s what I was doing to get so much attention to your video. I should’ve been doing something else or– something_.”

“ _Xing. You’re doing that thing again. Stop talking. The video is getting long_.”

“ _What thing? Wait! Lu! Don’t turn it–_ ”

The smile on Jongdae’s face can’t possibly get any wider. He’s in his room, sitting in front of his laptop on his desk with his earbuds in, and he can’t help but think Yixing is adorable in the way he speaks Korean. He’s busy re-watching the video and giggling to notice his roommate sneaking up on him. He screams when he feels a chin on his head. “Don’t hurt me! I didn’t do anything to you!” And then arms drape over his shoulders in a relaxing manner. Jongdae breathes out a sigh of relief at seeing the hands free of anything and outstretched in a placating gesture before one comes back to tug an earbud out of his ear.

“Do I need to be concerned?” is Kyungsoo’s only question before he backs off to sit on his bed. He doesn’t look concerned, but Jongdae knows better. He thinks.

“About what?”

Kyungsoo raises a brow. Jongdae breaks easily.

“Do you think he’s cute? Have you heard of Zhang Yixing? YouTuber by the name _ZYIXING_?”

“Yeah.”

Jongdae doesn’t comprehend. How does Kyungsoo know of Yixing and he doesn’t? Kyungsoo doesn’t even do much with technology, only using his cell phone and sometimes the computer to watch anime and listen to music. He also watches all the official music videos of artists because it’s his way of ‘ _showing support_ ’ for them after only watching it once.

“Why don’t you two actually meet up?” Kyungsoo asks, breaking Jongdae out of his thoughts. “Obviously he has an interest in you if he made a video I thought was going to be a new original.”

Jongdae gapes at him. “You already saw this video?”

Kyungsoo shrugs, lips tugging up into a smirk. “Got the notification early this morning.”

“And you didn’t say anything about it?”

“I wanted to see your reaction,” he says before the smirk falls and curiosity fills his gaze. “Jongin also called. Something about a birthday party he wants you to go to. He said Baekhyun could come too.” He tilts his head in confusion. “He said I could come also since I answered the phone. Jongin’s so weird.”

“What?” Jongdae removes the remaining earbud from his ear, getting up from his desk to get his cell phone off his bed. There are text messages from Jongin and a whole lot from Baekhyun and Chanyeol. “Did he say when and where?”

Kyungsoo hums in thought. “October 7th. At night – eight in the evening maybe?” He frowns when Jongdae looks back at him confused. “It’s on campus. Jongin’s gonna to swing by here to come get you.”

“But that’s a Wednesday.”

“When do we ever go to sleep at a respectable time in the middle of the week in university?” Kyungsoo retorts, lips working up into a smirk again. “It’ll probably be worth it if Jongin is the one basically advertising it. He’s trustworthy I guess.”

Jongdae snorts at his choice of words, falling back onto his bed, and waiting for the minute Baekhyun comes banging on his door for an explanation. He smiles up towards the ceiling at thinking of Yixing’s newest video and he turns his head to see Kyungsoo still looking at him curiously. “Do you think this invitation to a birthday party will stop Baekhyun from complaining and whining in my ear 24/7 when he sees that video?”

It’s one of those blessed times Kyungsoo laughs as much as he does right now, because as if right on cue, someone comes banging on their door wanting an explanation for this _special video_ just for Jongdae.

 

University cafés were never really Jongdae’s thing until this year when all his classes became ten times harder and he needed to be somewhere else other than his dorm room to actually focus on all his work. He doesn’t think they’re bad or anything, per se, but he would’ve simply preferred some place else where students weren’t typically found doing their homework other than the library. But the place is really convenient and they have this one type of pretzel sandwich he definitely thinks is a gift from the heavens.

He’s busy munching on said sandwich in the early afternoon, headphones on as he tries to mute out the extra noise of the busy café so he can focus on the essay he’s trying to write up for his Business Finance class. He doesn’t get far though when he suddenly hears squeals through his headset and they get louder when he sees two people sit down in front and beside him out of the corners of his eyes. He looks up mid-bite only to almost choke on a particularly salty pretzel piece.

Jongin is wide-eyed, freaking out as he’s trying to talk to him, but Jongdae honestly can’t hear anything until Jongin pulls the headphones off his head and suddenly everything comes in a loud rush. “Are you okay?!”

Jongdae’s only logical response is to drop his pretzel sandwich onto his plate and repeatedly slap Jongin on the arms like his life depends on it.

“What are you doing?!” Jongin screeches, stumbling out of his chair to try and shield himself from the attacks.

“You don’t just– Jongin!”

And then Jongin takes Jongdae’s pretzel sandwich and stuffs it in the latter’s mouth, Jongdae now sporting a deer-in-the-headlights look as he belatedly realized some of the patrons at the café have their phones out recording this moment.

“Hi, Jongdae,” Yixing finally says, completely amused with the situation and putting his drink in front of him. “It’s nice to finally meet you in person.”

Jongdae takes the proffered drink after taking a reasonable bite out of his sandwich and trying to swallow it without dying. He’s surprised to find it’s the raspberry lemonade special drink of the day and he looks to Jongin who gives him a bright, knowing smile. He didn’t realize his own was empty.

Yixing is handsome up close, he concludes. His hair is shorter and a lighter brown than in his last video, but he thinks it makes him look pretty. He’s also staring at him with curious eyes and Jongdae realizes he hasn’t said anything yet to the guy who practically flirted with him for the whole worldwide internet world to see. He swallows.

“Hi, Jongdae. You’re Yixing.”

“What,” Jongin deadpans.

That elicits laughter from Yixing and the people around them who know who they are, and Jongdae immediately covers his face with his hands as he groans in embarrassment. “I mean. Hi, Yixing. You already know I’m Jongdae. Kim Jongdae. Funky JD Jongdae who–”

“What is _wrong_ with you?” Jongin interrupts, and when Jongdae peeks through his fingers, Jongin is giving him a weird look. “Is your brain fried from your Business Finance class? Or is it Biology?” He then looks to everybody who has cameras out on them. “Can you please stop filming? If you want to see how this progresses, check their YouTube channels within the next month. Otherwise, please let them have their privacy.”

It takes a few moments, but when the other students actually accept Jongin’s conditions with slight glares, Jongin simply glares back until they’re gone just as quick. It doesn’t help that he sees Chanyeol walking by the café with Baekhyun though and he’s hastily jumping out of his seat to meet up with them. “I won’t tell Baekhyun anything. Bye!” are his last words before he’s gone from sight, Jongdae gaping because _he thought Jongin was his favorite_. He looks back to Yixing shortly after, who’s still smiling at him.

“How do you two know each other?”

“We happened to be in the same dance class this semester.”

“What?” Jongdae gapes again, eyes wide with surprise. “You– he didn’t say anything?”

Confusion on Yixing’s face is probably the most adorable expression ever. “Who? Jongin?” He hums as he leans back in his chair. “I didn’t know either until I got notifications saying I was in your video and saw him in it.”

“Oh,” Jongdae mumbles. He can feel his face heating up, watching as Yixing just stares at him as if he was one of the most interesting humans on the planet. “Oh.”

“Did Jongin invite you to my party next week?”

The question breaks the trance and now Jongdae is confused. “Next week?”

“October 7th,” Yixing replies, pouting himself as he fumbles for his phone in his pocket to check his messages. “I asked Jongin if he could invite you and your friends. Lu Han’s throwing it so it should be fun. Some of my other friends are coming too, another YouTube person you might know. Z.Tao? Ever heard of him?”

Jongdae is happy for Yixing’s distraction. It allows him to think more clearly and he hums. “I’ve heard of him,” he murmurs, “He does raps and dance covers too.”

Yixing smiles brightly at him, eyes lighting up. “Yeah! Well, he’s coming too. You two can meet; maybe collaborate? He’s been searching for another singer,” he says thoughtfully, but then scrunches his nose. “He and Lu Han always bicker like they’re real brothers. It gets annoying after a while.”

Jongdae thinks Yixing is really cute. And odd. “Really?” he asks, watching as Yixing nods. He smiles when Yixing reaches out to grab his drink, only to pause midway and realize he gave his drink to him when he first arrived. “I can buy you a drink?” Jongdae offers, watching as Yixing’s brow rises in query. “As a gesture of gratitude for the prevention of my drowning in heavenly pretzel sandwich goodness.” The resulting laugh in incredulity is enough for the grin to stretch wide on his face, getting up to go to the counter and hopefully guessing correctly which drink the man likes.

If Yixing doesn’t like the drink, he doesn’t say.

 

The following days blur into a week as Jongdae manages to gather his friends together to finally create the next skit in his series featuring Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Gayoung. It takes the entire weekend plus Monday to film all the scenes needed for the fifteen-minute long video, but the result is worth it after Jongin edits it.

It has comments flowing in immediately, thanking Jongdae for finally creating another one of these videos. Jongdae simply smiles through it all, trying to respond back to every other comment and those who mention him on Twitter. It’s a feat that lasts more than a day, and he’s not prepared for when Wednesday comes. It blindsides him and he’s sitting on his bed, completely perplexed as Baekhyun and Kyungsoo stand in front of him and his closet, arguing about what he should wear for the party tonight.

Mentions of black silk in combination with a red tie for a compromise has Jongdae snapping out of his daze, falling back onto his bed only to grab two of his pillows and throw it at his friends. They both yelp and Jongdae is proud, if only for a moment. He pales when he sees both Kyungsoo and Baekhyun glare at him with the intensity of the entire universe behind them.

“What are you guys so worked up about?” Jongdae manages to squeak out moments later, slowly crawling back on his bed to further the distance between them. “Did something happen?”

The question breaks Baekhyun, the man dropping all the clothes he’s holding onto the floor, and Jongdae screeches as his best friend lunges at him, knocking the wind out of him. He scrambles to sit on his chest and when he does, Jongdae is wheezing trying to get air back into his lungs.

“Baek–” He wheezes more when Baekhyun jabs his finger in his cheek.

“You have been holding out on me,” Baekhyun accuses, repeatedly poking him on the face, “I watched Yixing’s video. There’s some kind of weird friendship-romance thing going on between you two and, whether it looks like it or not, Kyungsoo and I are determined to figure out what possibility there is between you two.”

“For the record,” Kyungsoo pipes up, throwing clothes at them that covers both their heads, “I’m only going hoping for some cool drinks tonight.”

“Exactly,” Baekhyun affirms before he’s scrambling off of his friend to search through whatever remains of his clothes. “Plus,” he adds, “Lu Han is going to be there.”

Jongdae rolls his eyes. “Of course.”

“We’re going purely for our own intentions.”

When Kyungsoo and Baekhyun aren’t bickering, they can be a deadly duo if they collaborate together. He groans when more clothes are thrown on top of him.

“You guys are going to be the death of me.”

Baekhyun throws him a smug grin.

“Just be glad Chanyeol and Jongin aren’t here too.”

Jongdae groans again, much more loudly this time.

 

The party isn’t as extravagant as they thought when Jongin leads all of them, plus a curious Chanyeol, to Yixing’s apartment right off campus. In fact, there are less than twenty people when they arrive and Jongdae recognizes some of the faces as his classmates from previous classes. Liyin – his recent crush before Yixing appeared – is here and Jongdae stares openly at her as she greets all of them with shy smiles and waves of the hand.

“You’re the infamous Kim Jongdae I can’t stop hearing about,” Lu Han greets, standing off to the side and giving them bright grins. “You really are cute in person.”

Jongdae hears a gasp somewhere behind him and he turns to see Baekhyun’s eyes wide with shock. Baekhyun looks amazed, staring at Lu Han with all the wonder in the world, and Jongdae guesses having the man’s hair down with his fringe in his eyes wearing the most normal clothes on the planet – a plain V-neck with jeans – isn’t helping his best friend’s situation at all. He always had a strange weakness to that type of ‘ _fashion_.’

“Oh. Yixing managed to get your whole crew here,” Lu Han comments, walking up to them to shake their hands. His smile turns warm when he sees Jongin. “Hey.”

All of them turn to Jongin surprised, watching as he gives his own smile back. “Hey, Han.”

“Chanyeol and Baekhyun?” Lu Han questions right after, looking to the guys next to Jongin. “You’re a lot taller than I thought,” he murmurs in thought before looking to Baekhyun, “A little smaller.” He then turns to Kyungsoo. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know–?”

Kyungsoo simply waves him off, a little smile to his lips. “Kyungsoo. Jongdae’s roommate.”

Lu Han nods, “Ah. Cool,” before looking back to Jongdae, “It’s nice to finally meet all of you. Make yourselves at home.” He winks at Jongdae and Jongdae is slightly concerned when he hears Baekhyun quietly groan behind him. “Xingie will be glad you showed up.”

Jongdae’s interest is peaked, brows rising up his forehead. “Really?” Baekhyun’s clinging onto the back of his shirt, but he pays no mind as he drags him around to follow after Lu Han. “Where is he anyways?”

“Yeah,” Lu Han laughs, looking over his shoulder at them, “messing with his guitar somewhere, probably his room. He already socialized with everyone here so he’s been waiting for your group to arrive.”

Jongdae hums as he follows the other down the hallway, stopping just in front of a room slightly ajar. They can hear the sounds of chords being played when Lu Han pushes the door open further and Baekhyun instinctively pulls on Jongdae’s shirt to get a closer look. It’s like he’s meeting some sort of high profile celebrity. It’s kinda cute.

“Hey, Xing,” Lu Han calls out, startling the man into almost falling off of his bed. “A couple people are here to see you.”

“What?”

Jongdae laughs as he takes a step back to balance himself, Baekhyun pulling harder on his shirt and almost choking him. He points his thumb over his shoulder, purposely jabbing Baekhyun in the forehead right next to him where his chin is resting on his shoulder. “He’s actually here to see you for a moment, but he _really_ wants to meet Lu Han,” he divulges.

An embarrassed squawk leaves Baekhyun’s mouth at his words and Jongdae laughs as Baekhyun pushes him forward in protest and immediately leaves them, tips of his ears burning red. It has Lu Han and Yixing looking at them surprised, both of them staring at Jongdae confused for a moment before it dawns on Yixing what just happened. He laughs as he stares at Lu Han.

“Go make sure he doesn’t finish all my drinks or something.”

But Lu Han honestly looks so confused when he turns to stare at his friend, that Jongdae is amazed.

“What?”

“Baekhyun,” Yixing says, gently putting his guitar on his bed before standing to make his way towards them. “I think he’s a really big fan of you or something with the way Jongdae put that.” He smiles as he shoves his friend playfully. “Go make your acquaintance.”

“What?” Lu Han repeats, eyes wide, and Jongdae never thought the man could be this slow on the uptake. But then a thoughtful expression enters his eyes, and Jongdae thinks he’s wrong when he sees Lu Han smile before leaving their presence.

It’s only when he disappears from sight that Jongdae remembers there’s a reason for this party going on right now. He smiles as he fishes for the small card in his back pocket, turning to look up at Yixing to see him already staring down at him curiously. He lets out an embarrassed laugh when he sees the card and envelope are crinkled up from being in his pocket for too long. “Happy birthday, Yixing,” he says, handing it over to him. “Sorry it’s a bit… wrinkled.”

The greeting makes Yixing laugh and Jongdae smiles as he opens up the card. “To Yixing,” he reads aloud, his Korean slightly slurring as he reads slowly. Jongdae immediately thinks it’s endearing. “Thank you for inviting me to your party,” he pauses, eyes squinting as he tries to read the characters correctly, “We haven’t met for long, but I feel like we’re going to be together forever.”

Jongdae flushes as he realizes what he wrote. “Like, inexplicably tied,” he tries to explain, hurried, “because our followers are commenting non-stop for us to collaborate and I think our friendship will grow stronger as time goes on.” Yixing looks highly amused.

“Our friendship?” he questions teasingly.

Jongdae swallows. “Yes?” he squeaks out, watching as Yixing regards him with _some_ look before staring back down at the card.

“I hope you have a great birthday, great week, and great year.” Yixing’s eyes widen at the next words, clearly written in Mandarin just for him. “ _Happy birthday! From, Zhong da_.” There’s a cute little drawing of a face next to the name and Yixing looks up at Jongdae, who’s smiling at him happily. “Zhong da?”

Jongdae’s laugh is soft. “It was my name when I took Mandarin classes last year.” The smile that blossoms on Yixing’s face is gorgeous, eyes lighting up, and where has this man been all his life? “You’re really cute, you know?” he says without thinking, gaze drawn to the dimple on his cheek. “How have we never met before?”

“That’s what I’ve been wondering.” Yixing says with a laugh, amused. “You’re really interesting.”

“Hm?” Jongdae hums, a bit distracted as his gaze flits up to connect with Yixing’s. His eyes are bright and it makes his lips curve up the slightest bit more at the sight. Yixing looks so happy. “What did you say?”

Yixing suddenly laughs and Jongdae blushes when Yixing reaches out to place a hand on his waist before gently turning him to direct him back to the main party. His hand is searing its fingerprint into the small of Jongdae’s back and it’s starting to make him hot all over in embarrassment. He sees Kyungsoo walking towards them and he flinches when Kyungsoo suddenly smirks and pokes him in the side hard, making him bump into Yixing out of reflex. He swears he can hear Kyungsoo’s snickers in his head. He jumps when he feels Yixing’s hand slide further across his back.

“I like your friends,” Yixing comments, a tinge of amusement in his voice, “They’re fun.”

When Jongdae looks up, Yixing isn’t even looking at him. Instead, he’s looking off to the side and when Jongdae follows his line of sight, he almost bursts into laughter at what he sees. He’s glad he’s not paralyzed with affection. He covers his mouth as he lets a chuckle escape. “Oh my God,” he whispers, feeling warm all over when Yixing’s hand continues to glide across his back in his movement to interrupt his best friend.

Across the room, Baekhyun is backed against the corner next to one of the living room windows. Their other friends are around, mingling and snacking on whatever they have, and Jongdae ignores the fact Chanyeol is sitting on the couch, laughing with Zitao as Jongin sits on his lap like he’s meant to be there for his entire life. Lu Han, however, is standing in front of Baekhyun, simply talking to him, but Baekhyun looks like he’s about to pass out from the close proximity of his crush.

He laughs when Yixing leaves his side as they get closer and wraps his arms around Lu Han from behind, placing his chin on his shoulder and pouting at him. “What’s Lu- _ge_ doing backing up one of my guests into the corner?”

Lu Han sputters – “What?” – suddenly losing his balance and tumbling backwards even as Yixing braces against him and _oh_. His back is very nice when he flexes. “What are you talking about?”

Jongdae can’t tell if Baekhyun sighs out of relief or not, but he relishes in the glare his best friend gives him. “You’re like a puppy backed into his cage.”

“Am not!”

“I’m not backing up anybody anywhere,” Lu Han defends, trying to glare at Yixing over his shoulder. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“It looks like it to me,” Yixing says thoughtfully before looking over to Jongdae, “Doesn’t it look like it, Jongdae?”

Jongdae doesn’t swoon when Yixing says his name. He laughs instead, eyes lighting up. “A little bit.” He turns to Baekhyun who looks like a miffed puppy right now. “My best friend is so cute,” he coos, reaching out to run his fingers through his hair. He smiles brightly when Baekhyun instinctively leans into his touch.

“What are you guys even doing here?” Baekhyun whispers with a small glare before he closes his eyes. He was always weak to Jongdae giving him attention.

Jongdae’s smile is like a feline’s, wide and proud as he turns to look at Yixing, Lu Han simply staring at them with wide eyes. He’s confused by their expressions, not understanding what’s so surprising about their friendship, when he sees Kyungsoo float back into view.

“Everybody in this party is either handsome or gorgeous,” he comments to them, standing next to Lu Han and Yixing and peering up at them under his fringe. “I should go out with both of you more,” he hums before looking behind him to Chanyeol and Jongin. “Not them though. I can’t handle those two.”

“You’re cute too,” Yixing blurts out, eyeing him up and down, and Jongdae bristles at the compliment, fingers accidentally clenching and gripping onto Baekhyun’s hair. He jumps when Baekhyun yelps in pain.

“I’m sorry,” he immediately says, looking back to his best friend and releasing his grip on his hair. He rubs his fingers soothingly on his scalp. “Are you okay, Baek?”

Jongdae flinches at the glare he receives, even though he can tell it’s half-hearted. “Kim Jongdae, you better be glad I consider you my best friend.”

“I love you?” Jongdae offers with a smile that’s supposed to be placating. “You’re amazing?”

In no time, Baekhyun is releasing a soft sigh, a small smile coming to his lips as he shoves Jongdae away from him. “And this is why I love you most.” He laughs when Jongdae laughs, allowing the other to finally pull him away from the corner. Jongdae doesn’t miss the way Baekhyun glances at Lu Han briefly before looking away back to him.

Jongdae smiles. “How do you like meeting your idols up close?” That brings the light back into his best friend’s eyes and he laughs when Baekhyun clings onto his arm, acting like Lu Han and Yixing aren’t standing right there beside them. Kyungsoo doesn’t understand his friends.

“So handsome,” Baekhyun sighs blissfully as he walks away from them and drags Jongdae with him. “You guys need to collaborate so I can see them more.”

“Hm?” Yixing pipes up, finally detaching himself from Lu Han. “Collaborate?”

“Oh yeah,” Zitao cuts in, causing all their attention to focus on him. There’s a girl sitting with them now, talking to Jongin, and Jongdae can hear her name when he says it and laughs – Minju. “Everybody wants both of you to collaborate. Commenters say it’s fate or something like that.”

Yixing’s head tilts in his confusion, and Jongdae ignores the loud squeal in his ear that Baekhyun thinks is convenient to release when he’s pressed up all against him. “Fate?” he questions, looking from Zitao to Jongdae. “Collaborate?” Then his eyes light up when he remembers. “You sing, right? We should!”

The chatter in the room seems to die down at the exclamation, some of the guests turning to them curiously, but Jongdae seems to be shocked still at the seemingly sudden request. “What?” He’s never really been put on the spot to sing. He’s always planned it out so he could practice and get all the notes correctly.

“We can do one right now,” Yixing suggests, looking to all his guests in his house. There are sparkles in his eyes and Lu Han shakes his head fondly before leaving to gather the laptop and cameras. “I have an idea and all of you are going to be in it.” He looks to Jongdae next. “Do you know the song ‘Maps’ by Maroon 5?”

Jongdae is surprised he actually does know the song. He likes Maroon 5 a lot and he doesn’t want to admit that he’s liked them even more since he first saw that medley of Yixing and Lu Han. “I do,” he answers with a nod, feeling Baekhyun shake against him in his excitement. “Why?”

The gleam in Yixing’s eyes doesn’t lessen as he gives him a certain look before turning to the rest of his guests in the apartment. “Jongin,” he addresses, the man straightening up at attention on Chanyeol’s lap. He smiles. “I need to borrow you for your choreographies. Minju, you too.” He turns around when Lu Han comes back into the room with his equipment. “I need you, Jia, and Zitao as dancers and flips as well. Somebody else can do the camera.” He looks to Jongdae, eyes still bright with ideas. “Can you dance?”

At this, Baekhyun and Jongin burst into fits of giggles, Jongdae frowning because “No. Not really.”

“Oh.” Yixing shrugs before looking to Chanyeol. “Do you film for Jongdae?”

Jongdae does not swoon.

“Sometimes,” Chanyeol answers, lightly patting Jongin’s hip, hinting him to stand up. “What do you need?”

The smile on Yixing’s face is devious, looking to Liyin next. “Can you work all the instruments and everything, favorite distant cousin of mine? You can have Baekhyun and Kyungsoo help you.”

“Cousin?!” Jongdae blurts out, looking to Liyin and watching her nod at them curiously. “You’re cousins?!” He whines as Lu Han comes to take Baekhyun away from him. “So good-looking.”

Yixing laughs as Liyin hides her face with her hands. “Then we have ourselves a video.”

 

It literally takes all day, Jongin and Minju giving a crash course of the moves to Lu Han, Zitao, and Jia while Yixing practices the song with Jongdae, Liyin, Baekhyun, Kyungsoo, and Chanyeol, but when they’re done, it’s done. Over fifty takes later, they complete it in one take. Jongdae is amazed when he’s watching it past midnight, almost everyone but the main crew from earlier gone.

“This is awesome,” Jongdae breathes out, eyes wide as he watches the video for the fourth time. A third of the re-takes were from Chanyeol not knowing where to go, but he eventually got the hang of it, and he did great. “Oh my God, can we post it up now?” He jumps when a hand suddenly covers his mouth and Yixing whispers in his ear.

“We should probably be quiet.”

When Jongdae looks to him, he almost dies from how close Yixing is to him. But Yixing isn’t even looking at him, so he turns to peer over his shoulder instead where he’s directing his focus on. He smiles when he sees all of their friends asleep, cuddled up together like they’ve known each other all their lives. He snickers when he reaches for his phone and silences it, taking a quick picture of Lu Han leaning against Baekhyun on the couch dozing off.

“That’s my phone.”

“What?” Jongdae looks down to see the case different from his Winnie the Pooh themed one. He blushes, tips of his ears pink. “Oh. Sorry.”

Yixing laughs quietly, shrugging before turning back to his laptop. The smile on his face doesn’t leave as he opens up YouTube to prepare the upload. “You can put your number in there. Please? I can send you the photo later.”

Jongdae’s heart skips a beat as he holds the phone in front of Yixing, smile blossoming on his face as Yixing automatically unlocks his phone with his fingerprint, before putting his number in as a new contact. He thinks about putting the heart-eye emoji next to his name but decides against it, simply putting a smiley face instead. He looks up when Yixing reaches out for his hand.

“I need to go to my room,” he says, voice quiet as he balances his laptop with his other hand. “To create the ending note for the video.” His dimple will be the death of him. “Join me?”

Jongdae doesn’t say no.

 

There’s something different in the air when Jongdae follows Yixing into his room. It’s not a bad different, and Jongdae finds it endearing when Yixing hurriedly straightens the comforter at the end of his bed before leading him to the only computer chair in the room. He hums to fill the silence and smiles when Yixing looks back at him amused.

“How long have you been making videos?”

Jongdae quirks a brow at the question before he looks up in thought, Yixing going back to setting everything in front of them so they can finally complete the video. “At least five years?” he says, unsure because he knows he received his first camcorder for his middle school graduation but didn’t upload a video until he entered high school. He nods his head as he counts from now to then. “Six years.”

“Ah,” Yixing says, catching Jongdae’s attention again. The camera is already focused on him and he leans forward to check his appearance and fix his hair. “You started a year and a half before me.”

Jongdae looks up at him surprised. “Really?”

Yixing nods, walking over before crouching down a bit next to him to be in view of the camera. They take a minute to adjust themselves before Yixing walks over to press the record button. “Yeah. My earlier videos are on Youku though – the Chinese equivalent of YouTube.” He smiles into the camera. “The videos on YouTube are the ones that I’ve recorded during my stay in South Korea.”

The red light starts blinking and Jongdae smiles as he waves to the camera, watching as Yixing moves back to stand next to him. “Hi, everyone,” he greets, “My name is Jongdae. You might know me from my own YouTube channel, _Funky JD Incorporated_.” He can’t help the laugh that escapes when Yixing kneels next to him and tilts his head just right so he’s leaning against his shoulder instead. “As you can see, we’ve finished our first collaboration together.”

“After persistent comments and messages that have reached us on our channels and our personal Twitters and Instagrams, we’ve decided to work together on a whim since our first true meeting was by accident anyways,” Yixing reveals, smiling to the camera, “That’s for another time though. If you’re new to my channel, I’m Yixing, creator and founder of _ZYIXING_ , and I hope you liked this video!” He straightens as he does the customary pointing to imaginary boxes all around them. “Click the links to be taken to the previous video or to Jongdae’s YouTube page. Let us know what you think of this collaboration in the comments! Think of it as my birthday present to all of you.”

Jongdae laughs, looking to him incredulously. “It’s _your_ birthday.”

“Exactly,” Yixing says proudly, looking up at him, “I can do whatever I want on my birthday.”

“Well, correction,” Jongdae says, smug grin directed at him, “It’s not your birthday anymore, so you can’t really do whatever you want.” His eyes widen when Yixing’s smile softens, hand reaching out to touch his cheek – “Yixing?” – and he yelps when the other pushes on his face, redirecting his stare to the camera instead.

“If you want to see more collaborations, let us know! Thank you for watching everyone. See you soon. Bye!”

Yixing suddenly gets up to turn off the camera, but not before Jongdae can get in a quick ‘Bye!’ and wave. He’s confused with the sudden end to the video but he becomes even more bewildered when Yixing comes back to him and helps him up from the chair. There’s a look in his eyes he can’t decipher and he blushes at the attention. “Yixing?”

“You can sleep in my bed,” Yixing quietly says, “I didn’t realize it’s gotten so late, but I’m guessing everyone outside is just going to crash here for the night.”

“What?” Jongdae frowns, taking a step back. “Why? I can just go sleep outside with the rest of them.”

“It’s the least I can do,” Yixing reasons, staring at him a bit longer before turning back to upload the video, “For asking you to do this sudden collaboration with me.”

The request was so innocent, Jongdae doesn’t understand why it’s such a big deal. He smiles as he waits for Yixing to finally leave his computer and let it upload onto the site. When he turns, he beckons Yixing with a hand before pointing to his bed. “Go sleep there. I’ll sleep outside.”

Yixing immediately opens his mouth to protest but Jongdae is already leaving the room, smiling to himself when he simply closes the door behind him and finds a spot next to Baekhyun on the couch. He sets his phone’s alarm for seven before he gets comfortable and falls asleep.

 

Hushed whispers wake Jongdae up before his alarm, faint and deep from just waking up. His head is on someone’s lap and he’s facing the coffee table where Jongin is curled up underneath. That doesn’t look familiar and he almost panics if it weren’t for the soft laughter that enters his ears right after. He wants to turn around and see who it is, but he knows the thigh he’s lying on. He always lies on his best friend’s lap when they hang out and sleep over on the weekends like little kids.

“ _You really don’t strike me as a science major. What would you like to do?_ ”

“ _I want to become a doctor_ ,” is Baekhyun’s soft answer, “ _I like helping people even though it’s not in the conventional way most of the time_.”

There’s more soft laughter and Jongdae makes to turn, sleepily opens his eyes to stare up briefly at his best friend before feigning sleep again, but it doesn’t happen. He feels his phone being taken from his pocket.

“I know you’re awake, Jongdae,” Baekhyun whispers, voice accusing, “Do you want to go to class today?”

Jongdae smiles at the question, turning to lie on his back and face his best friend. He doesn’t expect to see Baekhyun cuddled up against Lu Han’s side, Lu Han’s arm resting comfortably around his shoulders and staring down at him curiously as well. There’s a warm look in their eyes and he wonders what he missed while he was asleep.

“It looks like throwing a party in the middle of the week wasn’t the best idea,” Lu Han quietly says, chuckling as he glances around the living room. “Everybody’s exhausted from yesterday.”

“But it was fun,” Jongdae immediately says, moving to get up. He jumps when Baekhyun places a hand on his chest to keep him in his spot. “Baek?”

Baekhyun’s pouting down at him and it makes him want to laugh because his hair is swept to one side from sleep while Lu Han’s all fluffed up. “If you move, then I have to move.” There’s a small grin trying to break through the pout and Jongdae can’t help but reach out to poke the corner of his lips. “I don’t want to move.”

Lu Han laughs, and he looks charming when he’s just woken up. “When are your classes?”

“We have one at nine,” Jongdae answers for both of them. He moves his hand away from his best friend to stare at Lu Han. “Do you have classes today?” He realizes belatedly the way Lu Han’s thumb is rubbing patterns into Baekhyun’s shoulder. It’s cute.

“Nope. Not until the afternoon.” There’s a fond expression on Lu Han’s face as he stares down at him. He looks back up at him confused but then Lu Han is tilting his head the slightest bit to rest his cheek on top of Baekhyun’s head. The smile that blossoms on his face makes him wish they never had morning classes. “Would you like me to bring you back to your dorm?”

“We can always skip class,” Jongdae offers, looking to Baekhyun curiously for his opinion. But he knows his best friend too well. He wouldn’t skip class even if the apocalypse were coming.

Lu Han is silent, watching him curiously because he can’t exactly look at Baekhyun correctly, and there’s a contemplative look in his eyes. It takes only a minute before he’s looking around to see if anybody else was waking up as well.

The sigh Baekhyun lets out is resigned, leaning more of his weight into Lu Han’s shoulder as he starts to play with Jongdae’s hair with his free hand, the other still on his chest. “You know I don’t skip classes, idiot,” he mutters, “We probably have to leave soon so we can clean up and be on time.”

“I have a car,” Lu Han offers, lifting his head off of Baekhyun’s to look at them better. “I can bring both of you back.”

“Then that means I have to go back too.”

They all jump at the deep voice, Jongdae sitting up to quickly look around, and they breathe a sigh of relief when they see Kyungsoo lying down next to Minju but staring at them amused, wide-awake. “Soo,” Jongdae groans, the sudden movement bringing a rush of blood to his head, before he plops back down to Baekhyun’s lap. His best friend releases a disgruntled noise at the dead weight but he smiles content as Baekhyun moves to run fingers through his hair again.

Lu Han suddenly laughs, watching them amused, before he moves to get up. He slowly removes his arm from Baekhyun’s shoulders and shifts over until he’s completely detached. “Then I’ll go take a quick shower so I can bring the three of you back.”

Lu Han leaves them and Jongdae waits until he’s gone from sight to look up and see the expression on Baekhyun’s face. There’s a small smile on his lips as he stares blankly at some spot by his head, and he frowns, reaching up to poke his cheek gently. “Baek?” he asks, voice quiet so they don’t interrupt anybody else’s sleep.

It takes a few minutes, but the smile never leaves his face. “I think I actually like him,” Baekhyun confesses, voice quiet. The tips of his ears are pink and he’s messing with his hair now instead of Jongdae’s. It’s cute how flustered he is about this. “I just–” He cuts himself off when they hear footsteps coming from the hallway. He looks up alarmed and Jongdae laughs at the reaction until he hears an unfamiliar voice instead.

“Lu tells me you’re leaving?”

Yixing is wearing nothing save for the sweatpants that hung low on his hips. His hair is swept in all sorts of directions and he’s sleepily rubbing his stomach while stifling a yawn – Jongdae hasn’t seen anything so beautiful so early in the morning before. He’s speechless, still trying to comprehend the sight before him, when Yixing walks closer to them, carefully stepping around their friends to sit on the coffee table after leaning over enough to see Jongin turn around and wave to Kyungsoo.

“Do you have classes this morning?” Yixing tilts his head as he rubs at an eye but Jongdae can’t look away from his abs and chest. They’re so _defined_. It seems almost nearly impossible for him _not_ to look. “Jongdae?”

“Hm?” Jongdae immediately snaps out of his daze, looking away from the naked glory in front of him to Yixing’s eyes. He’s taken aback by the amusement he sees in them. “What?”

“Nobody told me I’d be waking up to the Abs and Gun Show,” Jia suddenly greets, sitting up and stretching. There’s a smile on her face and Jongdae blushes when he realizes it’s directed towards him. “Good morning.”

And then his hair is being pulled and he winces when he sees Lu Han coming into view, dropping a large towel around Yixing’s shoulders to cover him up. Baekhyun has a strong grip when his emotions are mixed into it. “I told you to put on a shirt before you came out here.”

Yixing laughs, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment as he tilts his head back to look at his roommate. “Did you?”

Lu Han’s hair is still wet, water dripping from the ends, and he’s wearing a muscle tank with shorts – _Baekhyun needs to stop gripping his hair so tightly_ – that Jongdae’s surprised he doesn’t notice the dazed look his best friend is giving him. “Go get ready for your own classes while Jia wakes everyone else up. I’m bringing Baekhyun and his friends back to their dorm.”

Jongdae immediately frowns at the choice of words, brows knitting together in his confusion. “Baekhyun and his _friends_?” he repeats, struggling to sit up before hitting Baekhyun’s chest to let his hair go. “Since when did I become the _friends_?” He yelps when he’s suddenly shoved off of the couch and kicks Zitao in the process.

“Excuse you! You’re _always_ the friends!”

“Baekhyun,” Jongdae whines, groaning some more when Zitao simply kicks him back before returning to sleep.

Laughter brings them out of their bickering, both of them looking up to see both of their crushes staring down at them amused. And then Jongdae is elbowed in the eye when Jongin turns underneath the table, groaning as he wakes up. “Ugh!”

“What?” Jongin mumbles, everybody’s eyes going wide at the assault. His own follow right after when he realizes what he’s done. “Jongdae! Oh my God!”

Jongdae realizes that Jongin is ninety-nine percent not his favorite anymore. Neither is Baekhyun.

 

Comments have been flooding Jongdae’s Twitter (and Yixing’s Instagram) recently that he forgets that all the notifications he’s getting on his phone are actually important. He misses out on a lot of Baekhyun’s calls and Jongin’s and Chanyeol’s texts, he usually doesn’t respond to them until at least a day later. It’s amazing that he’s actually reading all of his emails, notifications, and texts from the past day in-between his classes. He laughs when he reads certain comments telling him that he and Yixing are cute together and should start dating soon (or now) and others saying how he and Yixing should bring the boyfriend tag back to life. He’s too busy scrolling through every single message that he jumps when a body latches itself to his back.

“Please tell me you thought Lu Han was gorgeous this morning too.”

Jongdae rolls his eyes at the comment, thankful that the weather is cooler now so he’s not too bothered by the extra body heat. “You two looked extra comfy this morning,” he decides to say, teasing his best friend instead, “Like, _super_ comfy.”

“Do you have to bring that up?” Baekhyun whines, detaching himself from Jongdae to walk around the bench and sit down next to him instead. He leans against his side, sighing as he tilts his head on his shoulder, “Just tell me you think he’s gorgeous too.”

“I saw Yixing practically naked,” Jongdae says in retaliation, “Pretty sure he beat Lu Han by a landslide.”

“Lu Han is gorgeous!”

Jongdae flinches at the scream directed into his ear, eyes wide as he stares at his best friend, surprised. “Why are you so defensive?” he asks, bewildered.

All Baekhyun does is stare at him before whimpering, leaning his head back down on his shoulder like a puppy asking for approval and attention. Oh. Jongdae’s smile is fond as affection swells in his chest at his best friend. “If you like him, then I like him,” he says, voice soft. “He seems like a nice guy.” A surge of alarm suddenly goes through him. “He didn’t try anything on you while I was asleep, right? He respected all your boundaries and everything?”

Baekhyun chuckles in amusement, looping his arm with Jongdae’s. “No. We just talked. You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Of course I’m going to worry,” Jongdae argues back, flicking Baekhyun on the forehead, “I need to know you’re going to be okay.”

There’s a little yelp at the attack before they fall into a comfortable silence, Jongdae going back to checking messages on his phone and trying to reply to all the more calm tweets, before a breeze blows through causing both of them to shiver. They look up surprised when a jacket is suddenly draped around them.

“Have you ever thought about making a video about your friendship?” Yixing asks, leaning over the bench to look at them curiously. “I’ve never seen a friendship like yours before.”

Jongdae smiles as they hear Jongin chuckle behind them, Baekhyun turning around to give him a smile. “Not really,” he answers, briefly looking down to see Yixing in only a plain shirt and jeans. He looks up alarmed, already peeling the extra jacket off to give it back to him. “Aren’t you cold? We already have jackets.”

Yixing shakes his head, a smile tugging on his lips. “No. Keep it for now.” He peers over his shoulder to Jongin. “We have to get to dance class anyways. I won’t need it in there.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” Yixing’s smile is soft. “We’ll see you two later.”

Before they know it, Yixing and Jongin are gone, Jongin coming over to give them random kisses on the head before walking away. Even if he’s the youngest in their group of friends, he treats them like his own puppies, his children, and the gesture always brings a smile to their faces.

Baekhyun hums before leaning against him again, sounding thoughtful as he speaks. “How are you and Yixing anyways? I saw you go into his room last night.”

The memory has Jongdae smiling, going into a fit of giggles as he remembers Yixing smushing his cheek to face the camera. “I’m assuming you haven’t watched our video yet,” he says, ignoring the weird look his best friend is giving him, “You should watch it when you’re done with your classes today.”

“Can’t I watch it now?” Baekhyun whines, grabbing his phone, “Come on. You still have more data than me. Let’s see what’s making you all giggly.”

Jongdae laughs more, pulling his phone away before grabbing Yixing’s jacket and getting out from Baekhyun’s hold. There’s a struggle, but he eventually reins free, smug smile on his face. “I have class,” he announces, draping the coat around his shoulders once again, “And I’m taking this. See you!” He laughs as Baekhyun stares after him dumbfounded, mouth open as he runs away from him.

“Kim Jongdae! Get back here, you no good best friend!”

 

(“So,” Jongin starts off, peering at Yixing next to him, “What’s going on with you and Jongdae?”

The smile returns to Yixing’s face at the question, thinking back to how surprised Jongdae looked when he gave them his jacket. “He’s cute,” he comments, laughing when Jongin bumps shoulders with him purposely. “I don’t know,” he honestly answers after a few minutes, “It was fun singing with him yesterday. I wouldn’t mind doing another collaboration.”

There’s an immediate lull in conversation between them, but this is one of the reasons why Yixing loves being next to Jongin. He’s honest and genuine, knowing what to say and when to say it, and it’s otherwise a quiet, comfortable type of silence not a lot of people can bring near him. He also has the uncanny ability to pull his innermost thoughts to the surface and question them out loud.

“Would he be opposed to going on an actual date with me?” he questions quietly, looking down and stepping on all the crunchy leaves Jongin is trying to avoid. “I want to learn more about him.”

Jongin’s voice is soft when he speaks and Yixing looks up to him with wide eyes, heart beating just a little bit faster at the words.

“I think he would love that. He would love to learn everything about you too.”) 

 

“I don’t want to study, Soo,” Jongdae whines, feeling tired all over. His ceiling has never looked so interesting before. “Soo,” he drawls out, frowning when a pen smacks him on the side.

Kyungsoo isn’t even looking at him anymore when he lifts his head up to see him. “Shut up. Go text Yixing or something.”

The pout feels permanent to Jongdae. “He’s probably studying too.” He huffs as he turns over to lie on his stomach and face his roommate. “I don’t want to bother him.”

“Well, bother him anyways,” Kyungsoo says, turning to give him a look he can’t even read properly. “Stop bothering me when I’m actually doing my homework.”

Jongdae doesn’t stand a chance against Kyungsoo so he releases a sigh of defeat, reaching around to grab his pillow so he can use it to prop himself up comfortably. Kyungsoo immediately looks away when he doesn’t say anything and he sighs again, letting his roommate do his things for once.

He doesn’t even know how long he’s been lying there. By the sound of his phone vibrating off his bed and falling to the floor, he thinks it’s been a while. He probably dozed off again because the next thing he remembers, Kyungsoo is dropping his phone onto his back before running fingers through his hair gently.

“Yixing is calling you,” he informs before leaving the room.

Jongdae grumbles at the disturbance, wanting to doze off a bit more, except his phone has other plans and is currently vibrating again indicating another incoming call. He releases a tired sigh before fumbling for it on his back and sliding his thumb across the screen. “Hello?”

“ _Hello_ ,” comes Yixing’s polite voice, “ _Kyungsoo texted me saying you were bored_.”

It takes a second, but Jongdae laughs at the information. “So you decided to call me?”

“ _Did I interrupt something?_ ”

“My nap,” Jongdae immediately replies before turning onto his back and groaning when it only makes him feel stiff all over, “But you probably saved my back. Thank you.”

Soft laughter comes from the other end of the line and Jongdae smiles at the sound. “ _Well, you’re welcome_.” His laughter quiets down and Jongdae’s heart races in anticipation. “ _Why aren’t you studying or doing homework like your other friends?_ ” And the anticipation dies. He groans again.

“I don’t want to,” he says, turning onto his side and clutching his pillow to his chest, “I don’t want to see any numbers for the next twenty-four hours.” He just finished taking some impromptu quiz his professor decided to give them today and he swears the quiz was harder than the last actual exam. “Numbers suck.”

Yixing laughs, bolder and brighter this time. “ _How about words then? Do you want to sing or something? I finished all my things already_.”

The offer perks Jongdae up, already liking the idea of that before Jongin’s voice randomly floats through his head.

“ _Do you want to go to the nearby park? I can borrow Lu Han’s car as long as I don’t wreck it_.”

“How about languages?” Jongdae blurts out right after Yixing finishes speaking. He can practically feel the confusion flowing through the phone. “Jongin says you’re trilingual.”

“ _Huh?_ ”

“Jongin,” Jongdae emphasizes, rushing to sit up in bed, “He says you speak three languages.”

“ _I do?_ ” Yixing questions back, still obviously confused with the information.

Jongdae is slowly becoming confused himself, brows scrunching together in thought. “Did Jongin lie to me? Do you only know Korean and Mandarin?”

There’s a silent minute before Yixing exclaims, “ _Oh! I can speak some English too!_ ”

Jongdae should’ve already known that from all the English covers the man has sung, but it doesn’t make it any less impressive. He smiles as he practically bounces on his bed in excitement. “Can you teach me some words or something? It’ll probably be useful when I open up a business in the future.”

“ _You want to own a business?_ ” Yixing asks curiously, “ _I can come pick you up and we can go to the park. The weather is nice outside today_.”

“I do,” Jongdae confirms, smile growing brighter when Kyungsoo walks back in and gives him a look. “The park sounds fun. Come here in thirty minutes?”

“ _It’s a date!_ ”

The call ends and Kyungsoo has to come over to gently close Jongdae’s mouth when it falls open at the words. Kyungsoo is giving him a confused look this time but Jongdae feels like he doesn’t really have to explain it when he jumps off of his bed and rushes past him to go to their closet. He needs to look good for their first date.

“I’m pretty sure you don’t really have to dress extravagantly,” Kyungsoo comments as he peers over Jongdae’s shoulder curiously, “he’s probably going to ask you out on another date either way.”

Jongdae hopes he’s right.

 

They’re not prepared for the rain that suddenly drenches them right when they managed to find a good bench to sit on. They both sit there, staring at the sky in shock, before Yixing pulls out his GoPro camera, shocking Jongdae even more because _how can he afford that thing?_

“I couldn’t find my regular camera,” Yixing confesses, rubbing the back of his neck even as they’re getting soaked to the bone, “So I borrowed Lu Han’s camera instead.”

Oh. _That makes sense_ , Jongdae thinks before opening his mouth and then immediately spitting out the water that accumulates there. He grimaces as he holds his hands above his head, staring at the other. “Are you _recording_ this?” he asks incredulously, staring at the other man bewildered.

Yixing just smiles, nodding. “I have to record our first date, right?” He releases a short hum before using his free hand to cover the front of his head, shielding his eyes from incoming raindrops, and turning the camera to him. “Jongdae and Yixing’s first official date,” he announces in front of the camera before redirecting it to Jongdae again. “One that we will probably remember for at least a few months.”

“A few _months_?” Jongdae echoes back, still confused with pretty much everything. He watches as Yixing nods again, very seriously this time.

“Who has first dates in the rain?”

Jongdae briefly wonders what in the world is going on in the man’s brain. But then he’s pulling out a lone piece of paper that’s steadily getting rained upon and he remembers why they’re even out there in the first place. He sighs, resigned, before he grabs the camera and faces it to Yixing instead.

“Re-teach me Mandarin.”

Yixing makes a funny face at the camera in response and Jongdae instantly smiles, dropping the paper and holding onto his hand when he stands up and offers it to him. He doesn’t expect the man to pull him along and start dancing in the rain, twirling him in circles, but he’s pretty sure this is probably one of the best dates he’s had in a while. He laughs when Yixing grabs for the camera, facing him and letting him go with the flick of the wrist to twirl on his own.

Yixing, heart thundering in his chest along with the rain beating down on them, smiles as he announces, “The beautiful Kim Jongdae, everyone.”

 

Bursts of giggles and chuckles threaten to break through Jongdae’s concentration. He’s staring down at his notebook, the one full of ideas for his future videos, and he can’t really come up with anything else other than doing another _Au Naturel_ video because Gayoung is too busy with her classes and Chanyeol is too busy feeding Jongin cake to contribute anything helpful to any of his ideas. It’s been a few months since that first, fateful one, so maybe it’s time to make another one. He hums in thought before looking next to him where Baekhyun looks like he’s about to crash on top of his Organic Chemistry notes.

“Hey, Baek,” he whispers, leaning over to nudge him on the arm gently. He’s surprised the cup of coffee his best friend drank in combination to the constant aroma of coffee beans in the café isn’t enough to keep him away. “Baek, what time did you sleep last night?”

“Non’ya,” Baekhyun mumbles in response, trying to swat him away.

Jongdae pouts at the action, poking him instead until he wakes up. “Baek. Come on. Chanyeol and Jongin are being gross and I need your help.” He stops his poking to watch Baekhyun easily fall into slumber instead, eyes closing and slumping on top of his notes. He grins mischievously as he aims lower, poking him hard in the side.

“Stop!” Baekhyun immediately squeals, straightening up and slapping him on the arm. Jongdae winces but doesn’t regret his decision. He groans instantly after. “What do you want?”

“I _want_ your help,” Jongdae emphasizes, holding up his notebook in front of his best friend’s face. “It’s been weeks since Yixing or I have made a video and I feel bad for the viewers wanting another collaboration after so long. I feel like I should upload something to make up for it.”

“Then do another _Au Naturel_ video,” Baekhyun suggests, waving him off to go back to his notes. “Gayoung is too busy to do another video for your series anyways.” He eyes their companions in front of them completely ignoring their existence. “We’re all too busy to memorize lines or take all day to record a cover.”

Jongdae releases a sigh of resignation at the reasoning. His best friend gives him a sympathetic smile at the sound and he smiles back, knowing all of that is true. Pouting, he slouches back into his chair, looking down to his notebook that he doesn’t notice three smiles greeting the newcomer to their table.

“Isn’t it too early to be pouting?” Yixing teases, peering down at the notebook in his hands. “What’s wrong?”

“Are you busy tomorrow?” Jongdae blurts out, looking up to the other only to see him nod. He whines at the confirmation, about to throw a fit, if it wasn’t for Baekhyun speaking up and Yixing reaching out to massage the back of his neck.

“Come on, the rest of us are free. Let’s do that _Au Naturel_ video tomorrow.”

“You really shouldn’t worry so much,” Yixing softly says, gently sitting down on the armrest of the chair, “Everybody knows we have our own lives. They can wait a few more weeks or months for another video from us.”

“But we haven’t even had time to do another collaboration since ‘Maps,’” Jongdae mumbles, relaxing slowly underneath Yixing’s magical fingers. “I want to do one of Bruno Mars’ songs.”

“Then we’ll do a medley soon after exams are over.”

“Exams will never be over,” Jongdae groans, knowing he has to start studying soon so he won’t fail his upcoming tests. “Every day of our life is an exam.”

The laugh Yixing releases makes Jongdae’s face burn red in embarrassment, glancing up at him quickly before looking away again. “Is he always like this?” Yixing asks, and Jongdae frowns when Baekhyun laughs with him.

“Yeah, basically.”

“What date number is this going to be?” Jongin pipes up, catching all of their attentions.

“Twelve.”

There are smug smiles on everyone’s faces except Jongdae and Yixing. Jongdae feels like he’s burning up twice as fast, thinking it’s about time that he and Yixing leave before he has any chance to be embarrassed any further. It doesn’t help that Baekhyun and Lu Han haven’t even gone on their first date yet and it looks like neither of them cares whenever they meet up.

There’s a soft chuckle behind them and it makes everyone turn their heads, Jongin and Chanyeol already smiling, and maybe it helps that Jongdae can hear Baekhyun’s breath hitch when they see Lu Han standing behind them. He has a Starbucks coffee in hand, his other hand in his pocket, and he really shouldn’t be bringing in other company’s drinks or wearing a beanie on his head.

“You’re already on date twelve?” Lu Han teases, “When are you two going to make it official?”

“Who says we’re not official?” Yixing answers, pout forming on his lips. “When are you going to finally ask Baekhyun on a date?”

“What?!” Baekhyun squeaks definitely more awake now than before. He’s staring at them wide-eyed, Organic Chemistry forgotten, and Jongdae would laugh at him like their other friends but he’s still reeling in the fact Yixing indirectly said they’re already official.

A soft smile appears on Lu Han’s face and Jongdae thinks it’s time for them to go. “I have my own plans, Xing,” he says, walking up to them to place a hand on the back of Baekhyun’s chair and lean forward to give doctor-to-be a personal smile. “Don’t go rushing it.”

“Whatever you say,” Yixing says with a laugh, shaking his head at him before standing up and tugging Jongdae with him. “Let’s go. Lu- _ge_ can take your place here.”

“You read my mind,” Jongdae mumbles, smile bright. He ignores Baekhyun’s obvious cough of ‘ _gross_ ’ in favor of letting Yixing help him pack his stuff before they’re leaving the café. He almost squeals when he feels Yixing randomly kiss the back of his hand in-between his chuckles. He sounds so amused, Jongdae should slap him.

“So,” Yixing drawls out even though he’s smiling when Jongdae turns to look at him, “What time are you going to be doing this video tomorrow?

Jongdae frowns at him. “What does it matter to you? You’re _busy_ tomorrow.” His answer has Yixing laughing and he doesn’t get it. He rips his hand out of Yixing’s dramatically. “You don’t get to hold my hand!” But it only makes Yixing laugh harder, reaching out to tug him in by the shoulder and give him a kiss on the temple. Yixing is so touchy.

“How long have you and Baekhyun been friends again?”

Jongdae whines at the question, pushing Yixing away to stomp off alone. But like always, Yixing follows him anyways. “Just go to class already.”

“But isn’t it my duty to bring my boyfriend to class?”

The words hit Jongdae like a freight train, slamming into him hard at all sides and causing him to lose balance of the world. He stops and stares at Yixing, the other looking at him curiously, and he can’t help but whisper a soft “What?” in response. He doesn’t pull away when Yixing reaches out to hold his hand again, lacing their fingers together easily.

“You can say no,” Yixing quickly says, eyes wide with panic before they soften and he looks sad, really sad. “It would be okay.” This is not acceptable.

“Of course,” Jongdae quickly says, his small smile coaxing another out of Yixing. He shakes their hands reassuringly. “I would’ve told you after that first video together that I didn’t want to see you again.” He winces at his own word choice but the sadness in Yixing’s expression immediately disappears and he rolls his eyes instead.

“Well, that’s reassuring.”

Jongdae simply laughs in response, tugging him along with him to his next class. He never expected his first _Au Naturel_ video to take him where he is now, months later.

“Come on, boyfriend. Bring me to class like you said.”

 

(Yixing chuckles as he reads comments on his Instagram asking if he’s going to appear in Jongdae’s new video, receiving word on it through his Twitter and he’s ninety-nine percent sure Baekhyun got into his phone again to relay the news of the video. The texting style is different. He leaves a comment on his own post, asking his followers if they know where Jongdae is filming right now. Some of his followers have to be his classmates too, right?

He isn’t exactly surprised to see replies within a couple minutes, most of them irrelevant to his question, but he finally sees one from Lu Han and he rolls his eyes.

7_luhan_m: _how could you lose your boyfriend. go find him!_

He’s honestly trying. He’s been walking around campus after his advisor meeting for thirty minutes, five after seeing the massive comments, and he can’t find him at all. He rounds a corner of a building before stopping in his steps, pulling up Lu Han’s name to text him because he’ll know where Baekhyun is, but then he hears Jongdae’s tinkling laughter ringing throughout the quad.

Yixing looks up eagerly, searching the area to find the other, and he sighs in defeat when he realizes he’s accidentally walked into Jongdae’s video, _again_. At least he wasn’t messing with his earbuds this time. He bites his lip in anticipation as he pockets his phone before slowly walking over to them, hoping to surprise them into making an appearance. He tries to hide the smile threatening to break out onto his face at their laughter.

“So, since our last video, apparently Jongin and Chanyeol have something going on?” Jongdae says, uncertain, as he keeps looking to Chanyeol and Jongin sitting on opposite sides of him and Baekhyun. “I don’t really know but they can’t stop taking glances at each other.”

“What did you two even do?” Baekhyun questions next, reaching over to poke Chanyeol’s cheek next to him. “Hopefully something not cheesy or inappropriate, right?”

“No!” Chanyeol blurts, but his ears are red and Jongin is completely avoiding his gaze. Yixing doesn’t understand what happened between yesterday and today. “Nothing like that.”

There’s an awkward silence between all of them before Jongdae breaks it to face the camera again. “Anyways!” he exclaims, clapping his hands once, “It’s freezing out here. Like, my butt is about to be frostbitten because it’s that cold.”

“Are you kidding me?” Baekhyun gasps, hand going up to his chest in a mocking manner. “It’s not even the coldest of the season yet!”

Yixing finally releases the laughter he’s been holding in, taking off his scarf and crouching down behind Jongdae to wrap it around his neck instead. “I’m sorry I don’t have portable seat warmers,” he greets, kissing the top of his head out of habit. He smiles as he waves to the camera. “Hi, everyone.”

A surprised gasp leaves Jongdae’s mouth before he’s turning to slap him on the arm. “Yixing!” he hisses, cheeks burning red in embarrassment, “I thought you weren’t available for this!”

“I like surprises,” Yixing says with a shrug, teasing smile on his lips, “I got out of my meeting early.”

“Oh, gross,” Baekhyun comments, scooting away from Jongdae to make room for Yixing and lean on Chanyeol’s shoulder, “This is supposed to be an _Au Naturel_ video of us doing funky things.”

“You’re just jealous your boyfriend doesn’t go to the same university as you,” Jongdae retorts childishly, sticking his tongue out at him playfully.

Baekhyun only rolls his eyes good-naturedly before a smile is pulling at his lips and he’s pushing Yixing away to move closer to his best friend and cling onto his arm. The move has Yixing yelping in surprise, falling backwards onto the dead grass, and he flinches when the cold ground seeps through his clothes. As far as he knew, Baekhyun and Lu Han still haven’t gone on their first official date yet.

And then Yixing just lies there. He stretches out his legs between Baekhyun and Jongdae’s bodies and stays there staring up at the bright sky. The cold isn’t so bad once he’s gotten used to it, especially when he’s so close to Jongdae talking happily and laughing with his best friend. His brows shoot up when two shadows loom over him.

“How many comments do you think you’re going to get for this one?” Chanyeol asks him, eyes wide, “I’m curious.”

Jongin puts a hand to Chanyeol’s face and pushes him aside, visibly enjoying the way Chanyeol growls like a puppy at the move. There’s a fond smile on his face when he looks back down to him. “You two are cute together.”

Yixing has chosen Jongin as his favorite person besides Jongdae, smiling as he pulls the younger in for a tight hug against the cold ground. He ignores the yelping and the scandalized gasping and screaming before he lets Jongin go and pulls Jongdae against him instead, not even looking the least bit affected by his abrupt actions.

“I’m still filming, you know,” Jongdae whispers against him, Baekhyun making gagging noises next to them, “You should let me go.”

“Nope,” Yixing chirps, pushing both of them up to sit at once. He laughs when he squeezes Jongdae’s sides and he squeals. “Let’s finish it together.”)


End file.
